The learning resource centre - what used to be called the "library" at Leary's Brook Junior High - is a mashup of old and new.

There's a table with a bunch of computers at the back, and on the wall behind the computers there's a dignified-looking set of encyclopedias.

The learning resource centre - what used to be called the "library" at Leary's Brook Junior High - is a mashup of old and new.

There's a table with a bunch of computers at the back, and on the wall behind the computers there's a dignified-looking set of encyclopedias.

On another wall, there's a brand new "SMART Board" and not far away there's the oversized cardboard box it came in.

The board itself is ready to become a mashup of old and new -it can now be used to display The Telegram's online Smart Edition through the Newspapers in Education (NIE) program.

Wednesday afternoon, representatives from The Telegram and NIE partner Provincial Airlines were at Leary's Brook to hear about the program, and what the new technology will mean.

Telegram reader sales and marketing manager Dean Jacobs, controller Paul Newhook, Provincial Airlines chief financial officer Bill Madore and marketing manager Sherry Lynn Butt also talked with Leary's Brook students to hear how they use the newspaper in their school.

"It's a way to incorporate technology into our program, and having (The Telegram) online is going to be such a useful tool," said Andrea Rosa-Bian.

"It helps a lot of our students, especially if there's any auditory issue. Like, hearing-impaired students love being able to have the written (information) that they can see."

The students at Leary's Brook are already familiar with the newspaper; the school gets 70 papers delivered every weekday.

The papers encourage literacy, which is one of the priorities at the school. Every morning, students have to do 10 minutes of silent reading.

"It's cool, because mostly everyone brings a book to read, but if you forget your book, you can read a newspaper," said Grade 7 student Ocean Whelan.

"Then you don't get in trouble, so it's convenient both ways: interesting to read, and interesting for not getting in trouble."

Grade 8 student Cameron Martin, on the other hand, says he just likes knowing what's going on in the world.

"I like knowing what's on the go, and all the news. I like, basically, reading what happened last night, and all the stuff that's new," he said.

The newspapers are also used for projects and for real-world examples of classroom concepts.

In social studies class, Rosa-Bian said, students often bring up things they read in the newspaper.

"They'll say, 'Miss, did you read this in the paper ...' and they're trying to get me off-topic," she said.

The joke is on the students though; Rosa-Bian said she can almost always shift the conversation to make the newspaper stories relevant.

Provincial Airlines marketing manager Sherry Lynn Butt said it's really exciting to see the NIE program in action, as well as the SMART Board applications.

With the online edition, the hope is that more schools in the province in remote areas can benefit from The Telegram and the NIE program.

"I'm from Labrador, so I know that we're probably even a bit more limited in the resources that we have," Butt said.

"Our local paper comes only once a week, so to be able to have access to a paper that we can have three and four and five times a week, that's wonderful."

Jacobs said the Provincial Airlines partnership is important to the NIE program; the airline flies newspapers free of charge to Labrador for schools there.

"NIE partners such as Provincial Airlines, who fly NIE papers into Labrador for us each day, make the program a success," Jacobs said."The NIE program is growing exponentially year after year and we are extremely excited about what the future holds with the digital edition of the paper."

Jacobs joked with the students at Leary's Brook that it's his job to "make the newspaper cool," and said that new technology development will help that.

"Our readers are accessing us in different formats now more than ever with more and more people checking out the digital version of The Telegram on their smart phones, computers and soon their iPads."